This invention relates in general to paint applicators and particularly to a roller applicator that is suitable for painting wrought iron railing.
The right tool for the job achieves efficiency and superior results, and nowhere is this principle more applicable than in painting. One painting job that can be particularly tedious, time consuming, and likely to frustrate a painter, is the job of painting railing such as the wrought iron railing that adorns many of our homes. This job involves painting the many relatively narrow surfaces of closely spaced rails in a repetitive sequence of carefully applied strokes, and so a specially designed paint applicator is called for. The right paint applicator would reduce the time and concentration otherwise required, and although many types and kinds of paint applicators exist, none are quite the right tool for painting wrought iron railing.
A typical section of wrought iron railing consists of a series of spaced apart rails extending perpendicularly between generally parallel top and bottom rails. Each of these rails may employ a variety of shapes, generally rectangular shapes and serpentine shapes being common. Each of these different shapes produces it own unique and attractive railing design, but at the same time it results in a great number of relatively narrow and closely spaced surfaces to which paint must be applied. Painting the railing involves applying paint to each one of these surfaces, and this requires a series of carefully applied, repetitive strokes that expend time and concentration.
Spray painting has been used in the past in an attempt to overcome this problem, but this has often had undesired results. The typical wrought iron railing installation is in close proximity to other objects such as buildings and shrubbery, and spray painting risks undesired painting of these nearby objects. Either that or the objects must be adequately masked with drop cloths or old newspapers. Consequently, it is desirable to have a paint applicator that reduces this risk and eliminates the related requirement of masking nearby objects.
In addition to spray painting, small conventional paint brushes have been used in the past in an attempt to simplify this type of painting job, but this does not significantly reduce the number of strokes, skill, or concentration required. The opposite approach, using an excessively large conventional paint brush and more paint in a slap-it-on approach, is in some respects less tedious, but the results are correspondingly less professional. Consequently, it is desirable to have a paint applicator that reduces the number of strokes, skill, and concentration required in painting wrought iron railing while still enabling a painter to achieve quality results.
Although roller paint applicators exist for some painting jobs, none of these are suited to the relatively detailed work of painting wrought iron railing. Existing roller applicators are designed for painting long flat surfaces in correspondingly long flat strokes. Some require two-handed operation, and others are totally unsuited for railing having a serpentine shape. Thus, it is desirable to have a paint applicator that can be used conveniently with one hand, and that is suitable for painting the twisted shape of serpentine railing.